I recently dinged 70, finally after a long haul. Naturally, I was all hopped-up to run Karazhan until I learned I needed to first complete an arduous attunement process. Ok, I’ve known for months that I needed to do this, and it’s not that arduous at all. It got me thinking about attunement in general, though.

Frankly, my initial reaction to any sort of flagging was negative. I started in EverQuest and its Planes of Power expansion each tier required its own flag. Once guilds got far enough along, latecomers like myself were well and truly screwed as most guilds weren’t inclined to go do any back-flagging. They’d usually mumble something along the lines of “how the hell are we going to progress if we’re holding newbies hands through the same zones, day after day.” Thankfully, pictures of the guild leader and a goat came in handy.

Thankfully, WoW has few attunement needs–Kara being the most common. Even almost a year later my guild is more than willing to help me through the process–it seems everyone has two or three alts needing this, so groups have been easy to come by.

Continue reading Breafast Topic: Attunement, hassle or not a big deal?

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Last week on AddOn Spotlight, we discussed the damage meter (and more!) mod Recount — and there was some commenting suggesting we should cover the Ace family of addons, so here you are. Ace isn’t a specific addon, but instead a code library on which addons are built — and you can get countless different mods in Ace format.

Ace was created because many different mods have to use the same types of basic functions. With ordinary mods, these basic functions would be written and included with each addon. With Ace, this basic functionality is packaged into a single library that all Ace mods use. What this means to non-programmers is that Ace mods use fewer system resources, because they all use a the standard Ace code, which is loaded once for all of the Ace mods you have. If you’re using non-Ace mods, these basic functions are loaded seperately for each addon you have — and the more addons you have, the more this adds up. (On the flip side of this, if you only use one Ace addon, you don’t gain any benefits, but if you use all Ace addons, a little efficiency improvement in each can result in a big difference.) For the programmers in the audience, Ace means you can write your addon quickly, because you have immediate access to basic Ace functionality (you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — you only have to write code for what you want to do).

Want to get started with Ace? Read on for a list of some of the best Ace addons out there.

Continue reading AddOn Spotlight: Ace

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Every Saturday, Eliah or Elizabeth will bring you their thoughts on the Priest class with Spiritual Guidance. Whether it’s keeping your fellow players alive or melting their faces, you can read about it here!

There are lots of reasons you might want to play a Priest. Perhaps you like the idea of smiting your enemies (sure, you can pick fights with any class, but you have to be a Priest to do any literal smiting). Perhaps you want to melt faces (no class does it better!). Perhaps you want to help your groupmates by providing healing (Vampiric Embrace is healing, right?). Or maybe you enjoy the god-like feeling of being completely in control of which members of your party live or die.

Before we talk about the best way to level a new Priest, however, let’s talk about what Priests can do — and whether the class is right for you. Then, if you’re really convinced a Priest is the way to go, we’ll talk about picking the right race (with race-specific class skills, this can be an important choice for a Priest) and getting started.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: So, you want to play a Priest…

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Regular columns dominate this week’s listing of WoW-related content on our sister site Massively. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.

Behind the Curtain: Immediacy in PvP
Craig Withers likes to PvP in a tabletop game, but not WoW. Why not? Read his current Behind the Curtain column to find out what’s lacking in Blizzard’s version of mortal combat.

WAR vs WoW: Keen and Graev compare
Keen and Graev’s blog has started early in the comparison of World of Warcraft and the upcoming Warhammer Online. See what our own Kyle Horner has to say about what’s sure to be a hot topic this year.

Another rumor regarding Blizzard’s love affair with consoles
A recent demo of a new console game resulted in a comment leading to speculation: is WoW coming to a next-gen console near you?

Behind the Curtain: More Plot Please
How much plot is needed to make an MMO enjoyable? Chris Chester poses that question, and his own answer in his weekly column, Behind the Curtain.

Building a Better MMOusetrap: Adventures in babysitting
Guilds are an essential part of every MMO. In his Building a Better MMOusetrap column, Dave Moss explores ways that Blizzard and other game developers can make guilds even better.

As the Worlds Turn: Ramblings of a mad man
Adam Schumacher uses this week’s As The World Turns column to present his wish list to Blizzard and other MMO developers detailing what he’d like to see this year in MMOs.

MMOGology: Keep it simple, stupid
Mark Nottke has been playing a lot of Dungeon Runner. In his weekly MMOGology weekly column, he compares the simplistic quest, interface and content to WoW’s system and you may be surprised at his conclusions.

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All the World’s a Stage is a column for inquisitive minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.

The media usually portrays WoW as a “boy’s game.” That’s not to say girls don’t play too, of course — just that the game is basically about qualities such as aggressiveness and violence, and our culture expects males to be interested in that sort of thing.

Whether such a designation is true or not, the “masculine equals violent” stereotype is very pervasive, and it is natural for many male players to begin the game with a powerful and intimidating character in mind. The player may imagine that his avatar is warm and kind-hearted inside, but outwardly, his character looks as though he could rip out your throat with a flick of his pinky finger.

But there are many men out there who don’t like such exaggerated manliness in their characters, just as there are many women who don’t want their character to look like a dainty barbie doll. Being a person isn’t just about just one gender attribute, after all. Indeed, female characters in WoW can achieve a full range of human attributes in their appearance; they can look friendly and intelligent, yet lightning quick and deadly at the same time. However, the appearance of male characters is often so filled to the brim with “strength and honor” that there’s not much room left for any other human quality.

Continue reading All the World’s a Stage: If looks could kill

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If you’re not familiar with the “How to Paladin” series, by Shepiwot, it is about a seriously ADD paladin that finds himself in a variety of PvE situations. Throw in some death threats, out of control camera action, and text presets, and you’ve got a recipe for a seizure, or 25 … Whose tutorials do you prefer?

Previously on Moviewatch…

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Noah sends us this screenshot from Westfall — which might be a pastoral farm scene were it not for the Defias waving a knife in the foreground. Noah tells us that he snapped this shot while passing through Westfall on his level 70 Paladin, which leads us to believe that this poor Defias is in a bit over her head. (In case you want to be threatened by a knife at all hours, this lovely shot is also available in wallpaper size.)

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we’d love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

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It’s Sunday morning, and instead of reading your local comics page from the newspaper, we have a selection of WoW-themed comics for your enjoyment. Break out your morning beverage and settle in to be entertained.

1. Marshal, from Dark Legacy Comics
2. They Never Heal from GUComics
3. Takoda’s submission that won a Comic Contest Honorable Mention
4. Lion’s Pride Inn, Vol. 1 pg. 7
5. The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf, Episode 7: Dr. Disgraph
6. Looking for Group page 111

To vote for your favorite, pass through the break.

Continue reading Sunday Morning Funnies: No heals

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Ah, the class trinity. The three basic group roles that seem to be set in stone throughout MMOs. On this sunny Sunday morning we won’t stress your brain too much — we’re just asking which part of the class trinity you find yourself on. Is tanking the way to play? Is healing the most fun? Is DPS your thing? Cast your vote and we’ll see which of the trinity wins out!

View Poll

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Two bosses may enter… but only one will get to leave in WoW Insider’s fantasy deathmatch series. Every week we pit two of Azeroth’s raid bosses against one another in a battle that your votes get to decide. This week we have Ahn’Qiraj’s Twin Emperors going up against Blackwing Lair’s Chromaggus. Both present unique challenges to player raids, but would they be any harm to one another? Ultimately, that’s for you to decide — so read on!

Continue reading Two Bosses Enter: Twin Emperors vs. Chromaggus

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